Personal Demons
by Aurora BoreAlice
Summary: What happens when one grumpy chunnin is saddled with a hyperactive six year old half demon? Chaos. No pairings.
1. Chapter 1

For the past two years Ori hadn't needed to use an alarm clock. For every morning, no matter what, she would get woken as a small boy curled up on the foot of her bed. This morning was no exception; like clockwork, right at six o' clock, her son quietly snuck into the room and climbed up onto the bed. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes Ori smiled to see Sato all curled up and clutching the blankets. Moving softly herself she leaned over and kissed Saru's cheek to wake him. Then getting up she scooped up her small son and carried him back to his own room to sleep for a few more hours.

That done she set about looking over the house to see what had been messed with. At first it had been alarming to wake up and find some room turned inside out by little hands, but after a while it had just become routine to check that nothing had been broken. Coming into the kitchen she had to appreciate the skill Sato had in stacking all her pots in one giant tower. Shaking her head she sighed, "He's getting better at moving things without making any noise." Not that that was a bad thing really, it just made it troublesome since she knew he'd be using that skill for more mischievous things soon if she didn't do something.

While she was still thinking and looking over the tower of pots Saru came in and looked at the room in surprise then chuckled, "You'd think one of us would have heard him moving these." Ori nodded, "I really must be getting rusty." Moving carefully she started taking down the pots and setting them into the sink. Working together the two parents got it taken care of quickly then sat down (after making sure they chairs hadn't been tampered with) at the table to relay information. They had to just to keep up with the energetic child.  
"Don't use the toothpaste yet, it's been rigged to turn on the shower."  
"Opening the front door will drop a bucket of – and I don't know where he got it- snow on you."  
"Oh look out for the smoke bomb in the hallway."  
"Did we find them all?" Saru asked drumming his fingers on the table. "Yes I think so," Ori sighed. Shaking his head Saru stood going towards the bathroom, "Sometimes I just don't know what to think about that boy. Good luck with him today." Ori nodded and waved to him, "M'kay! Good luck with the family today."  
It had been a near constant thing for him to go report to their head and reassure them that while Sato might be a bit hyper he was not going to start turning on anyone. Going to peek in on him Ori really couldn't see how anyone could think he was dangerous. 'Yup, a real cold blooded killer,' she though rolling her eyes as she watched him sleep hugging a small stuffed bear. Closing the door she headed back to get dressed—and failed to remember about the smoke bomb. Back in his room he couldn't help but grin as he heard the thump sound as it went off and heard his mother yell in surprise. Giggling softly he snuggled his face closer to his bears' and yawned, falling back to sleep almost as soon as his eyes closed.

Later that day when he'd finally woken up and trudged downstairs the small boy found that his tower had been taken apart. For a moment he looked sad then he grinned, thinking about how much bigger he was going to make it tonight. "Sato, is that you?" Ori came walking into the kitchen behind him and was immediately attacked in a hug. She playfully growled down at him and picked him up by the vest and tossed him over her shoulder making him yell in delight. Carrying him like this to the table she set him down and then sat herself to have lunch.

Once they were done, and he'd cleaned up the mess in the hallway, they went outside to take a walk around the compound, most everyone but the younger children and their mothers had already left for the day, leaving this part of the clan's home fairly empty. Finding a good spot down by one of the ornamental ponds Ori set down her bag and took a seat on the grass there. While she set out a small pincushion and little red and yellow hakama and took out some measuring tape.

"Now hold still just for a little bit, then you can go." Nodding He did his best, well as best as a young boy can, to hold perfectly still as she rechecked that he would fit into it well. After about five minutes though she had to stop since he'd been basically bouncing as he looked around bored. He'd really done pretty well, Ori thought as she gave him a smile and nodded letting him run off. In a flash he was gone, but she knew he wouldn't go too far from her, at least she hoped he wouldn't.

It wasn't another ten minutes as she sat working before she noticed three of the other young mothers not too far away all sitting together with many a half concealed glance at her. Working hard to take a deep breathe she didn't bother even trying to listen in on what they were saying, she'd already heard it all before. In fact, she thought with a small grin, I'll bet I could nearly predict it word for word.

"Look at her, shameful isn't it?" she began murmuring under her breathe as she looked over at the oldest of the three gossips. "Thinks she can just sit there and ignore what she's done to our clan." Adopting a nasally voice she continued, "Yes, I'll bet she thinks that since no one will face her about it she can just go on pretending she's a loyal wife and upstanding member of the clan, the little hussy." Then making her voice sound slick she whispered to herself, "One of these days the real father will come back, and then that fool of a husband will have to admit once and for all that he's been cuckold." Sighing tiredly Ori finished the bit of thread she had left and then tied it off. Tucking the needle away and doing the same with her hair behind her ear she folded up the little clothes and packed them away.

Standing she looked around for a sign of where her son might have run off to and was alarmed that either he was hiding so well she couldn't even see him when she activated her Byakuuyan, or he was gone. Dropping the bag she began walking quickly around the buildings looking everywhere.

Little did she know that he was long gone a good five minutes ago. The reason being that he'd run into some of the other Hyuuga children. Not directly, he was glad to find, but they had been getting a lot closer and he was not eager to see them anytime soon. So he'd turned and started walking in the other direction when he literally bumped into Kaito his older cousin.

"Watch it fox!" he snarled down at the smaller boy while giving him a good shove that made him fall back and scrape his arm. Sato didn't answer and didn't look up, it wasn't worth it. Since he was very little he'd known that he could have fought back and won, but he also knew that doing that would make his mother worry and cry. He wasn't sure what was so wrong about him fighting back but he didn't want to upset him mom.

After a moment Kaito just walked off leaving Sato to get up and brush off his blue pants. Casting a glare at his back he hurried to make his way closer to the main wall surrounding the complex. Checking quick he was happy to see that no one was bothering to keep an eye on him or the wall, and was soon up, over it, and gone. Gone to work out his frustration at dealing with the older boy.

Keeping to the back roads and rooftops when possible he met very few people, which was perfect for what he was planning. Using a shop owners distraction with a worker that had spilled a pile of empty scrolls he nicked a small bottle of super strong ninja glue and started scheming. Soon after stopping by a small chicken coop for some feathers he set up shop in a small dark alley and waited. It was amazing how it killed him to sit still for fittings and other such things, but he could sit in a dark crevice in the wall for as long as he needed to, to wait for a fitting victim.

Just such his perfect victim was heading closer to her doom with every distracted step. They young Konoha chunnin was busily scribbling in the first few pages of a fancy looking black note pad. Kyouko, as she called herself, was having a bit of trouble getting the eyes on the cat she was drawing right. Growling she rubbed out her latest attempt and turned down another street, too preoccupied to hear a quiet giggle.

But as inattentive as she had been before, she was very much focused now as something at first very wet hit her face, then a cloud of white. Sputtering she was horrified to find that the wetness was starting to get sticky and hard, and that the white cloud had been a face full of feathers. Shoving the note pad into her vest she ripped out a few shurriken and looked about roaring, "When I get my hands on you motherless little weasels you'll wish you'd just died at birth!" Hearing a snort of laughter from her left she spun intending to lay into the person.

But at the sight of the defiant little red headed boy she froze. For a moment she could only stare at him open mouthed as she noted his rather singular features. Just for a moment she'd been reminded of what she'd left behind, and what she never thought to see again. But it was a very short moment since she had to rub a piece of the glue away from her eye so that she could see. Sato hearing her curse under her breathe and rub at the almost totally hardened glue started laughing so hard he had to lean up against the wall.

Her head whipping around she gave him one of her coldest glares and he skipped back a few feet grinning as she said, "You're that Hyuuga brat aren't you? Well you've really pranked the wrong person…" Gulping a bit as he saw her pull out more sharp and potentially harmful objects Sato gave her one last grin then stuck out his tongue and then ran for his life. Kyouko sputtered for a moment at the gesture then growling and yelling ran after him and out onto the main streets, causing a small old woman who was walking by a fright.

Sato thoguht back that maybe he should have waited a bit longer for someone else to go by, but then he grinned as he made a sharp right down another street. If it had been anyone else he wouldn't have gotten to play with them afterwards like this. Confident he could egt away he dove through a stall and glanced back. Yelping he saw that she was coming up right behind him and couldn't help but yell back to her, "Geez obaa-san, what are you a DEMON?" Kyouko felt the last bit of calm she had snap and she lunged towards him shoving a young ninja out of the way, all while yelling, "I'M NOT THAT OLD! And you're nothing compared with Kazzy, kid!"

With a small bit of chagrin she realized just how alike the two situation were, but unlike when she'd chased her husband down like a dog the kid's legs just weren't long enough to keep away forever. With a triumphant yell she grabbed hold of his vest and skidded to a stop panting as she grabbed his arm as well to keep him from wriggling away.

"Ha…I've..got you…now…brat," she gasped out with a wide grin that made him nervous. "No! Let me go! Let me go!" growling, though it wasn't very impressive since he was so young. Kyouko picked him up and held him tightly under an arm as she turned towards the Hyuuga compound, but to her unhappiness she saw that it was nearly on the other side of the city from where she'd chased him to. Anticipating a headache since he was still yelling she snapped at him to be quiet.

This of course did nothing whatsoever to help since he only yelled more and even started trying to bite her arm from where he could reach it. Yelling in slight pain she grabbed him by the vest again and said, "That's it brat I've had it!" Grabbing his slim shoulder she was happy to see that it had worked, and that she was now holding a very shocked and very much smaller fox kit. Smiling she grabbed him the scruff of his neck and set off again.

But then it didn't help as much as she'd hoped. As soon as Sato got over the shock of having suddenly become a fox he started peppering her with questions. To any other pserson it would have sound like a soft chatter of animal noises, but she had the fortune (or in this case the misfortune) of being able to understand every word. "Wow! That was awesome! Can you do it again? How did you do it? Can I do this myself? Are you a witch? Are you like me too? I'll bet you are, but you're not a fox. You're too grumpy to be one."

Trying to tune him out as best she could she hoped he'd run out of things to ask or say by the time they got there. But ten minutes later (she's had to stick to the back streets to avoid attention) he was still going strong and she was never more happy to drop something off as she was when she came to the gates.

"Oi!" she called to a man standing there, "Can you tell me where this little cretin," at this point she held up Sato, "lives so I can get rid of him?" The man looked them both over and said with a barely hidden smile, "It's just past that pond over there and four houses in on the right." She nodded and started walking but was stopped when he called softly, "Ummm..miss? You might want to get those feathers off soon.." Sato cackled softly as he hung there and Kyouko gritted her teeth and thanked him.

Another long two minutes later she was rapping rather hard on the front door. Soon after it was flung open barely missing her nose as a frantic looking woman with orange hair blinked at her in surprise. "I think this is yours." Kyouko dropped the kit, releasing him and allowing him to change back. As soon as he did he ran behind Ori and smiled as innocently as he could up at the two women. Neither one was fooled.

"Can I help you miss..err.." Ori began leaning against the doorframe. Kyouko pointed to her face then at Sato saying, "Kyouko. This brat did this to me, and I want to make sure that he's going to be punished in some way for this. He got it on my clothes too." She pointed to the offending spots as Ori nodded, "I see, he's going to have to repay you for those. And he's going to be getting punished as well." Sato gulped a bit pinning his ears to his head as he waited for the sentencing. Ori thought for a moment looking at the two of them then smiled clapping her hands, "I've got it!"

Kyouko just wanted to leave to get home so she could get the feathers off her face, they were really starting to itch, "Very well, anything would be fine." Ori nodded, "Yes, but I want something that will really stick in his memory. So he's going to be your apprentice and helper until he's paid for everything he's done."

Sato looked up at the woman in horror and they both exclaimed, "WHAT!?" Sato grabbed his mom's hand and shaking his head said quickly, "No please no, I swear I'm never going to ever do anything like this ever again!" Kyou gestured franticly with her hands, "No! Absolutely not! I never said anything about spending more time with him! I refuse!" Ori sighed and glanced at them both saying softly, "That's my decision, also while he's with you he promises not to prank you or otherwise bother you." Smiling softly at the other woman she said, "He really can be a big help, you won't regret it."


	2. Chapter 2

"_He really can be a big help, you won't regret it."_

'Oh I'm regretting it alright,' she thought glumly as she waited outside the compound two days later, "I mean really…what was I thinking!?" Gritting her teeth she drew out her notebook to try relaxing with her drawings, but after a moment she put it back with a sigh, it just wasn't working. Tapping her foot she glanced around with a slight growl, "He's late."

"No I'm not," a soft sulky voice said above her. Kyouko looked up at him in disbelief, "How long have you been there?" Shrugging he climbed down from his perch; once on the ground he glared at his bare feet, "'Kay-what-we-gunna-do…."

Feeling the start of a headache coming she fixed a smile on her face and said in a strained voice, "First we're going to go see if they need me for a mission of some kind…because then maybe they'll send me away for a few weeks!" Seeming to brighten at the possibility she went to grab for him only to have him flinch back. Mentally rolling her eyes she shrugged and turn to go.

Picking up her pace she got a small bit of smug satisfaction at hearing him have to run to keep up with her, his feet making a soft smacking sound on the paved street. Slightly surprising her he didn't say anything all the way to the Hokage's office. Remembering how he'd chattered the last time she'd seen him she began to wonder if he wasn't planning to do something despite his mothers rules against such. In fact his silence was a bit nerve-wracking, at least when he was talking she knew he wasn't going to try anything.

Heading inside she turned and pointed to a small row of chairs lined up in the hallway. "You, brat. Sit." With a few sullen looks he went and did as she said surprising her further. Nodding she turned and entered the Hokage's office. Striding right up to the desk she slammed her hand down on the table upsetting a cup of tea onto some official looking documents. "Send me on a long mission."

He took a moment to get the other papers out of danger before looking up at her, "Kyouko-chan? It's been awhile since you been to see me hasn't it?" Feeling a vein twitch in her forehead she said with a soft growl, "As soon as possible, anywhere, doing anything. I DON'T CARE WHAT IT IS, JUST AS LONG AS IT'S AWAY FROM HERE!" Trying hard not to smile and ruin it he leaned back, "Ah, having trouble already with him?"

She's known that he'd probably found out about it by then, but she'd been hoping he hadn't, "No," the young woman said rather stiffly, "I just want a mission that's all." He seemed to take an extra long time as he picked up and looked through the available missions, of which there were quite a few, then setting them down with a small sigh he said, "I'm sorry but there just isn't anything for you to do at the moment."

"NO!" Both of them jumped and looked over to the door to catch a glimpse of wide eyes under red hair that quickly disappeared. Feeling the vein that had been previously calming down a bit pick up again she muttered under her breathe about disrespectful brats as she turned back to complain more, but the look on his face stopped her. Sitting quietly for a moment she had time to shift nervously before he said softly, "Kyouko, have you ever thought what it must be like for your daughter?" Wincing she said softly but furious, "I don't want to talk about it."

Standing he walked over to the window motioning that she should follow. Moving slowly she joined him as he sighed then started softly, "Those poor children who have to face opposition because of their differences, they hide behind comedy or anger or an uncaring attitude but in the end they're all hiding trying to protect themselves." Trying to ignore the implications Kyou made a noncommittal sound and looked outside, "It has been one of the worst parts of being Hokage, watching these children get torn down by their peers or the people that they should be able to count on. In the end there's nothing I can do about it." He turned to face her then even if she wouldn't meet him in the eye, "It is my hope that I can count on the others in this village to help look out for them where I can't."

Allowing that to sink in he went and sat back down at his desk and set about drying the tea drenched parchments. Taking this as a sign that she was excused she began to walk out. When she was almost there he called out one more thing, "Kyouko, why don't you take a look at his medical records sometime, I'm sure they'd interest you." Nodding she left quickly before he could make her feel any worse.

Finding Sato sitting in the chair she'd left him in she was slightly amused to see the small defiance in the way he pretended to have been sitting in that same spot the whole time, not giving away that he'd been caught. Feeling a lot of her free time slip away she growled down at him, planting her hands on her hips, "Well brat, looks like we've got some work to do."

Half an hour later found them walking about her small apartment cleaning it out thoroughly. Although she did her best to keep what she'd been told in mind, but that was hard to do when she was constantly watching him to make sure he wasn't either picking through her underwear drawer or causally tossing picture frames onto the floor as he dusted.

"No! Don't touch that!" she yelled for the umpteenth time she dove to catch a little glass kitten he gone to drop. Glaring at him she replaced it carefully listening to him mutter, "..just dusting...don't know why there's so much stupid stuff here anyway…" Eventually they'd gotten it look more livable that before and she quickly ushered him away from her belongings to the street. Locking her door she called behind her, "Okay brat, I'm going to go train now, and you are going to…I dunno, just nap or something okay?"

Getting no response she looked around behind her, "Brat?" Without a trace he was gone. Rubbing her face she started after his footprints, "I swear my hair's going to go gray." After a quick search she found him about to make off with a small stick of Dango. Making him yelp she picked him up by his vest and left before the shopkeeper could raise a fuss. Once they were far enough away she dumped him on his butt, "What were you _thinking?_ I draw the line at stealing brat, and if you ever try a stunt like that again I'll wax your tail! Well?! What do you have to say?" Giving her a slightly hurt look he said boldly, "Well I was really hungry!"

Swallowing what she was going to yell she sighed then raised an eyebrow, "Well I suppose I'm not allowed to starve you." He took a step back from her alarmed, "Let's get some food first if we must, but no sweets! I do NOT need to deal with you any more hyper than you already are." Kyouko tried not to let even the twitch of a grin grace her face as his face lit up and he ran over to hug her knees as hard as he could.

Once he was fed and getting a bit sleepy she led the way to one of the less used fields and set him up not too far away under a tree where he nodded off quickly. Kyou worried at first that he might wake up from the noise as she went after a wood dummy. But it didn't and she fell into a pattern, speeding up as she went over her chat before with the Hokage trying to work out her anger. "..shouldn't have…Wack!….let him….Crack!…..rile me…..Smack!…….up like that!" Ending with a high kick she stopped panting in time to see Sato watching with something akin to wonder.

Giving him a questioning look he yelped softly and layed back down, but didn't stop glancing over at her. Shaking her head she tried to hide that darn little grin that kept popping up and walked over and knelt, "Hey brat, I know your not asleep. You were watching me." He made a face as he sat up and glanced away, "It looked cool." Kyou blinked over at him, "How old are you?"

He thought for awhile then grinned exposing a missing tooth on the top, "I'm six and four months!" Making a quick calculation she decided that he'd be learning soon anyways. With a sigh that held all her weariness at having to do this she got back up looked him over, "Alright, come at me, let's see what you've got."


	3. A short break

It was a very tired and dusty child she brought back at the end of that day, but despite that he was grinning from ear to ear. He even seemed less cautious of her, not glancing at her as often as he had that morning. Kyou, though she would deny it if ever asked, actually had a pretty good time as she set about teaching him basic taijutsu. Stopping otuside his house she gave him a stern look, no need for him to get _too _comfy around her, and said gruffly, "Well brat, you did okay today." Turning wide eyes on her he nodded suddenly going shy again, "'Kay." After a moment Kyou cleared her throat and started away, "I'll be by the gate tomorrow at nine. Don't be late again!" With a small grin he pulled a face at her back in a playful manner, then ran inside his house.

"…and then she started kicking at this big wooden person, and I was watching even though I was s'possed to be asleep.. then she caught me and then she showed me lots of neat tricks!" He paused for breathe and Ori with a small giggle put a finger over his mouth, "Sounds like you two had a good time today!" He nodded and smiled at his parents who exchanged slightly chagrinned looks as if to say, 'Well, it was only a matter of time.' Setting down his chopsticks Saru leaned back with a sigh and winked at Ori, "So, you think you can beat your dad now that you've learned all these new tricks?" The young mother had to try hard not to laugh at the horrified look on the young boys' face as he shook his head so hard his ears flapped against his skull, "No way! You're still WAY stronger than me!"

Saru laughed loudly, glad to hear that and got up, "Well come on then, you should at least try right?" The little red head bounced after him as his father made his way to the small Dojo that was attached to their home. "Right! Cause our family doesn't give up!" Saru nodded down at his son seriously and rubbed a hand over his hair lovingly, "That's right, never."

Over the rest of the week Kyou, while not really coming to love the little twerp, felt a bit of respect grow for the stout little boy. He helped her with her daily tasks, such as cleaning or shopping, without very much complaint, and when she was done with her own training he gave it his all. After one such bout she held up a hand to stop him when she saw him start to shake with fatigue, "Alright that was good, not brilliant, but better than most. Make sure not to slow down before you hit. Other enemy ninja won't pull their punches, and if I can't defend myself from you I should hand in my forehead protector." Sato just grinned, breathing deep to try and catch his breath; he was starting to learn how she acted when she was praising you.

Seeing that he was tripping she grabbed his vest like she was wont to do and slung him up onto her shoulders. Looking off and away she mumbled, "Just sit tight, I'll do the walking for now." Too tired to protest he nodded and slumped against her head. Before she'd even gone very far she heard the soft sound of him snoring. "Probably going to start drooling on my hair," she muttered under her breathe but her eyes were soft with kindness and a bit of longing as she thought about carrying her child home like this.

Shaking it off before her eyes watered up she picked up her pace and was soon at Sato's house. She knocked on the door and a tall man with pulled back black hair and gray-blue eyes answered. At first he acted alarmed seeing the prone figure she had shifted to her arms but relaxed after he saw the boy's ear twitch. Giving her a smile he took hold of him wrapping him in strong arms and nodded to her, "Thank you Kyouko-san, you don't know how much we appreciate what you've done."

Kyou coughed and looked away before saying sternly, "I don't know what you mean, I'm just doling out his punishment." Saru tried hard not to smile and nodded, "Of course, but as well as that, you've tired him out so well he's actually sleeping at night now." Giving her another smile he backed up and closed the door, leaving Kyouko to wonder what he was really trying to hint at.

Just something sweet as an inbetween chapter.

Also, and I really should never have to say this again, if I owned Naruto do you think I'd be posting stories on this site?


End file.
